A String of Pigeons

I count them on the power line:
one, two, three, four, five pigeons,
plump, grey, grumbling curmudgeons,
with the occasional coyish coo
that helped me through
a pandemic void of company,
a string of them, comical and pearly.
Just before sunset,
a window in the tumbling cloud,
accompanied by a loud
clap of wings, they explode
like fireworks that have lost their sparks
into the fading light,
their feathers whistling in flight.

Kim M. Russell, 23rd September 2020

By the time I got my camera, there was only one. This image was found on 123RF.com

My response to Poets and Storytellers United Weekly Scribblings #38: A Helping String

Rommy is back with another interesting insight into the art of Japanese tea ceremony and the art of wearing kimono. She says it involves a lot of knot tying and explains how the novice kimono wearer’s best friend is a koshihimo, a length of long skinny fabric that is used to secure parts of a kimono or obi, to keep one part still while dealing with another bit of fabric, or to keep things held while wearing a kimono.

Today, Rommy would like us to think about things that act like a koshihimo—things meant only as a temporary or hidden support.

28 thoughts on “A String of Pigeons”

  5. Murder of crows this morning, scavenging unsprouted grass seed where the giant dirtpile usta be, now mostly lawn-ish, but… They ascended as one when I opened the door, stepped out onto the deck to enjoy some fresh-air coffee and be the human scarecrow.

    Great write, KR

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  6. I was also reminded of mourning doves and their plaintive call. There’s somehow something comforting about seeing them lined up on a wire. You capture moments so well.

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  8. Goodness knows that there have been moments in nature that have helped saved my sanity in this crisis. But I love how there is an undercurrent of worry present here, despite their company. The whimsy inspired by their presence is recognized as just a small moment in a time filled with uncertainty. I really, really like the thoughtful way you approached the prompt.

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  9. Like we have discussed in the past–and just last week, lol–nature and her creatures are the perfect safety line in this time of turmoil and distancing. Your words took me close to the birds, I saw their expressions, felt the freeing flapping of their wings. Right now, it’s the best thing to have, while we wait…

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  10. This was a fun read, Kim. We have blackbirds that do the same, seems like hundreds of them. They are on all the wires, all over the pavement in shopping mall parking lots, but yet when they come to drink or eat worms from our lawn there are only a few, sometimes two to drink.
    ..

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